


Respite

by HeroSavesPeople



Category: The Flash (TV 2014), westallen
Genre: Blood, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Love, Reunions, Romance, Romantic History, Violence, mob
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:35:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23958532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeroSavesPeople/pseuds/HeroSavesPeople
Summary: A hardened past. A bloody reunion. A hopeful future. None seemed to make sense to Iris, especially together and all at once, but all she knew was that he was here. He was back.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	Respite

Iris looked up at her savior, gasping for air. 

She certainly wasn't expecting to see those familiar green eyes staring back at her with a grim look on his face. 

"Barry?"

"Are you ok?" he rasps, letting his hand drop to his side. The very hand that held the gun that was shot just moments ago, causing Iris's attacker to collapse to the ground. 

She remembered that stony way he would look at people, his posture perfect and straight like he was constantly ready for a fight. But in that moment, as Iris straightened up and leaned against the brick wall, she could see a flicker of..something accompany the stoniness in his eyes. She didn't quite know what it was, but it certainly was unfamiliar to the man that had been deemed a "psycho" within the community. 

"Iris…" he said, prompting her to answer his earlier question. 

She shook her head jerkily as she looked down at the dead body at her feet, the body of the man that was just moments away from ending her life painfully. 

"No," she gasped, "I'm not ok."

Tears dripped down from her eyes but her blood boiled with a rage that was getting harder and harder to temper. 

She let out an angry cry before stomping down on the prone body at her feet. In the back of her mind, she was aware that her efforts were futile--the man was very well and dead--but she needed to release the rage and fear that was threatening to drown her until she was no more than a puddle of distress and anguish. 

She was vaguely aware of Barry simply standing by and watching as Iris's hair and limbs flailed in sync to her stomps until she was replete of energy and all that was left was a shadow of her anguish. 

With a painful gasp, Iris tilted her head skyward, taking in as much of the fresh oxygen above that was not tainted by the odor coming from the body below. She stumbled back until she was pressed against the brick wall behind. 

It was only then, as she heaved and still greedily sucked in the air from above that she tilted her head to look at Barry under hooded eyes. 

"Wh-what are you doing here? How did you know?"

Barry looked down the alley, inspecting the place, before holstering his gun.

"I heard you were in trouble," he replied in his usual, businesslike tone. As though he hadn't just shot a man dead, as if he hadn’t just saved her life from a gruesome and prolonged death.

He examined the body, crouching down and rolling him over. "We need to get him out of there before anyone comes through."

Iris had retched at the sight of Barry dismembering the body, but she couldn't bring herself to leave his side. She didn't know if it was from the comfort she found in his presence or the fact that she had too many questions she needed answered in that moment. Perhaps it was both. 

She slid down the doorframe, vaguely noticing Barry whip his head towards her. 

"Are you ok?" he asked, elbow deep in bone and blood. "You don't have to be here for this."

Iris closed her eyes and looked in the opposite direction but remained where she was. 

"You said you heard I was in trouble. By who?"

"Linda. I don't think she was even expecting to see me based on the surprise on her face. I was in town for a day and she saw me at the market."

"'The market,'" Iris repeated with a scoff. "You mean you were looking for a job."

"No. I was telling you the truth when I said I wanted to leave it behind."

She lolled her head to look back at him, momentarily forgetting about the body in the tub. "Then what were you doing here with a gun, Barry?" 

"I told you, Linda said you needed help. It's my turn to ask you questions now," he said, his sea-green eyes settling upon hers firmly. "Why was this guy after you?"

"You still didn't say why you were back in town. I thought you were leaving Central City behind for good." _Leaving me._

His eyes were unwavering as he looked at her with that penetrating gaze she would often find upon her. But back then she was with Eddie and she couldn't spare them a second thought. But now…

"Not for good," he said softly. "Just until…"

He looked down at the tub.

"Until what?" Iris asked. 

He clenched his eyes shut before shaking his head. "I need a bag. That one, by your feet. Do you think you can kick it over?"

Iris studied him for a moment, the set of his jaw, the way his arms bulged as he shifted the limbs in the tub. She watched him and let his distracting presence make her forget about just why he was there, to begin with.

"Iris, you ok? It's ok, I can get it."

She broke out of her reverie as his eyes settled upon her again. He was pulling his bloody arms out of the tub and it brought her back to the present and she could feel the bile rise from her throat.

"No, no, I can kick it over," she stuttered. She kicked over the roll of garbage bags as she pressed the back of her hand to her nose, looking away again. 

"You should wait in your room. You've seen enough and I don't want you around the rest of it. Please."

When she hesitated he spoke again. "I'm not going to disappear on you this time. I'll still be here for you to interrogate me. I would just rather not be soaked in the blood of a man that was going to kill you, Iris."

The reminder that she had been on the verge of dying a painful death made her nod jerkily before scrambling up and out of the bathroom. She made it into the kitchen just in time to grab the garbage pail and heave. 

Four hours later, Barry was all cleaned up and showered, having dumped the body god-knows-where and changed. He knelt down by Iris where she was curled in a fetal position on the couch with thin headphones on, presumably to block out the sounds of body parts scraping against the floorboards. 

He let the back of his fingers drift softly against her cheek, reveling in the softness of her skin. He hadn't seen her in years and yet, being so close to her, feeling her skin, and smelling that scent that was uniquely her, he felt like no time had passed. 

His mind wrestled with himself as he leaned closer. She was asleep and yet he couldn't stop himself from stealing a moment to simply touch her. 

Her eyes fluttered open, startling him, and yet his fingers remained where they were gliding along her jaw.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Iris?"

Her eyes took in his damp hair and change of clothes before she quietly sat up, sliding the headphones off. 

He leaned back to look at her, cataloging every movement. Just like he always did. 

She rubbed her tired eyes. Despite the appearance of having been sleeping, she was doing anything but, the thoughts racing around her mind rampantly for sleep to ever come peacefully.

"I was chasing a story and fell on the wrong people's radar. I knew I should have probably let it go, but you know me."

She looked at him. The way those green eyes remained on hers made her warm, but wouldn't allow herself to give into them. Not until she knew what his motive was. 

"So, are you finally going to tell me why you're back in town."

"Does it matter?" he asked softly.

"Yes."

If he was back to get into the mob again, then she didn't know if she could bear it, but if he was back for her…no, she couldn't let herself think about that. She had been broken when he left after the kiss they shared. She thought it was a given that she would leave Eddie for him, but then suddenly it was Barry that was leaving her before she could even have him. 

"I told you that I was leaving that life behind and I meant it, Iris," he said, as though knowing what she was thinking. And perhaps he did. He always has a knack for knowing what she was thinking. "I came back because I heard Eddie was in jail."

"I left Eddie the moment after you kissed me," she said bluntly.

It was true. She had stopped loving Eddie a long time ago, long before Barry started becoming her shadow once he began working for her dad in the market. And she certainly hadn't been planning on falling for her father's enforcer, especially not when she was starting to hate the life her father had built around her. 

Barry stared at her for a long moment before looking away, brushing his thumb against his lips. 

One moment she was looking at his profile, admiring his long lashes at that angle, and the next his face was pressed against hers as his hot breath washes over her lips. 

They both breathed in the other, eyes shut as they let their lips drift softly against one another. And then Barry couldn't help letting his tongue peek out from between his parted lip and taste her. It was in that moment something struck them both. 

Perhaps it was the reality that they were truly here in each other's presence, that it wasn't just a mirage invoked from desperate longing but they suddenly were glued together and neither knew where one began and the other ended. 

In the midst of desperate gasps and cries of need, Barry had to know. "Do you want me, Iris?" He runs his lips across her jaw, gripping the back of her head securely to him. "Will you be with me?"

Iris 's eyes were closed, savoring his touch and scarcely able to breathe but when she heard the anguish in his voice even as he pressed loving kisses across her face, she let her eyes flutter to look at him.

Her breathing labored, she let her head drop so that she could look at him only to find his eyes clenched shut as though fearing her silence, her answer. She slid her hands from where they were threaded in his hair to cup his face. Hints of a stubble brushed against her soft palm and she was surprised she hadn't felt them against her skin when he was kissing her. 

But she ignored that to focus on him, his sweet face that belied the horror he had seen, had been a part of. Her memories of him consisted of his stony expression, sometimes accompanied by a frown and then the one time he cracked a smile because of something she had said. It was just one fleeting moment in all the time she had known him and suddenly that was what she craved the most. To not feel his lips upon hers or upon her skin, but to see it stretched into a smile or maybe miraculously, a laugh. How she wished for a joyful sound to emit from him rather than pain and anguish, or perhaps worse, apathy. 

"Barry," she said softly, her thumbs stroking his cheeks. He let out a slow breath before opening his eyes. She always felt breathless whenever he looked at her like he was diving into her soul and making a home there.

"Barry, yes. Yes, I want to be with you."

His eyes shone bright and he looked so young and sweet in that moment, her heart clenched.

"I love you, Iris. I love you so much."

She pressed her forehead against his. "I love you, Barry. Stay here."

He let out a sharp exhale as he looked back into her eyes. He brought his lips to hers until they were breathing each other in, but kept his gaze on her. He wanted to be close to her but needed her to see the truth in his admission. He wasn’t leaving her ever gain.

“Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and would love to hear your thoughts! It's been awhile since I felt inspired to write anything, let alone WA fics so I'm trying to find my groove again. :)


End file.
